The Sons of Men

So, nobody here finds it strange that his fiancée was kidnapped into the closet?

4xp for everyone

+1 heroic xp for Owen

14 practical xp divided evenly = 2 each

You have been invited to assist in the planning of our five year reunion. Amelia Lucero, our former Class President, was tragically killed and is now unable to fulfill her duties so the Vice President, Nancy Curry, has taken over. We will be meeting at Cafetería La Isla at 1:00pm on Sunday afternoon.

They were Coral Gables Class of 2006 intellectual elite. Honors students and members of the International Baccalaureate program. Though they hadn’t exactly been friends, they all knew what it was like to be the smart white kids in a predominately latin school.

It was a small gathering. Amelia was supposed to send out the invitations, but her “death” caused a hiccup and most people couldn’t make it due to the short notice.

Moya Reagan’s crush on Shane Holly was re-ignited with some extra fluid when she saw him drive up in his ‘59 Fury. In school, she’d found his quiet creepiness strangely alluring. And now, he’d traded in his glasses and dress shirts for cigarettes and oil-stained jeans. Sher herself hadn’t changed much, she still loved computers.

Henry Buchanan remained an odd, quiet boy. The espresso at the cafe only served him to make him twitchy.

Madison Kane, former bully to the bullies, had calmed down and become an accountant. His brother Owen became a priest.

Elliot Laurence, Shane’s half-brother, was a night security guard.

Anastasia Feist, still fussy and self-important, was now rich, fussy, and self-important.

Liam Bell was the talk of the reunion though. He’d been engaged to Amelia Lucero, the former Class President. When Nancy suggested a moment of silence for Amelia, Liam was quick to point out that she wasn’t dead, just missing.

Plans were made to look into some sort of day trip to the Keys and Moya was put in charge of creating a website. Shane managed to set up a Goldberg-esque “trap” that caused Ana’s coffee to spill on her lap. In a huff, she stormed out, threatening to call her lawyer.

Once she was gone, he noticed that she’d dropped a card. It was an invitation to a fancy dinner party. The outcasts of the class—Shane, Elliot, Liam, Moya, Madison, and Henry—discussed ways to crash the party as they got to know each other, almost for the first time as none of them had ever really been friends in school.

They discovered from Liam that Amelia’s disappearance case had been closed. The cops thought Liam was crazy and Amelia had just left him. Liam told them it was because the evidence just didn’t make sense. He wouldn’t give them more at the coffee shop, so Shane suggested they go elsewhere.

As they were about to leave, Owen Kane showed up. There seemed to be some animosity between him and Parker, but when Owen heard that Amelia may have been strangely kidnapped, he agreed to go with them.

Shane led them to the Miami Science Museum, to a small abandoned wood. There, Liam explained that Amelia had been kidnapped by a beast with toxic needles for fur who stole her away into the closet and vanished. Shane asked if Amelia’s skin fell off. When the answer was no, he asked to see the closet.

They all headed to Liam’s apartment. They learned that she’d been seven months pregnant when she was taken. Moya found some sort of talisman among Amelia’s things. Owen, using the power of God, looked for some sign of the supernatural. He found none in the closet, but noticed something wrong with Shane and Elliot. Elliot was glowing slightly and Shane seemed to have this darkness clinging to him.

When he asked about it, the two of the clammed up. Until Owen asked if they’d been around any strange presences. Shane admitted that their house may be haunted by something that takes away the insides of small animals, but leaves the skins.

At this point, Parker wondered aloud, “Are we all actually doing this? Do we really believe that Amelia was taken by a thing and disappeared in the closet?”

Henry: “I hunt vampires.”

The seven of them had all seen through the veil to the truth.

They all agreed to do some more research on the thing Liam saw. Moya took the talisman to a friend of her’s to look at. The rest of them decided to go see Shane and Elliot’s house.

The house was rundown, but in it’s heyday, it must have been nice. Now the wood was rotting and the roof leaked. They had a third bedroom that Elliot forgot about most of the time. Shane always remembered it though. He saw things out of the corner of his eye when he was in there. And he sweared the room was eating small creatures.

Elliot went to his room to “dream”. He’d been having prophetic dreams for a while now and wanted to see if he could get anything about Amelia.

The rest of them checked out the room. Shane showed them how if he cut his hand and spilled blood on the floor, once everyone left and the door was closed, the blood would be gone upon re-entering. Owen decided right then exorcise it.

Shane took him to the side and admitted that the room had eaten things larger than stray dogs.

Shane: “It’s eaten people.”
Owen: “This is definitely something I need to know. How many?”
Shane: “Twelve.”
Owen: “Oh. This may be more difficult than I anticipated.”

Owen and Parker argued for a bit about whether it was a demon or a ghost. Parker wanted to lay down a containment circle, but Owen emphatically denied his help. Finally, Parker laid it down anyway. Henry opted not to help and instead went to watch Elliot.

Elliot explained about his dreams while Owen, Shane, Liam, and Parker worked on the exorcism. The characters barely got through with Shane making a stunning 12 successes on an assistance roll (with only 4 dice!) and all of them risking a willpower at some point. Barely, but they managed to defeat it.

Elliot told them about a dream he had. They all went to crash Ana’s dinner party. The guests there had rows of sharp teeth like sharks and were tearing at slabs of meat with their hands and teeth like crazed cannibals. Strengthened by their success with the room, they all agreed to let Moya know and go to the party.

I don't have a happy place! She was taken away.

The next day, Moya shows up at Shane and Eliot’s house with some more information on the Mankaki. It seems to appear every ten years after a long hibernation that occurs after it’s meals. It lives in nooks and crannies in the earth and greatly dislikes bad smells. Like, more than the normal person dislikes them.

She again leaves the group to talk to her mystery contacts about where it might be while the group makes plans to get stink bombs.

Looking more into Thomas Salvatori, Oh6 discovers that he created the foei gras recipe that will be served at the dinner. Some people believe you can gain power by eating parts of people. The group worries that the livers may not be those of ducks after all.

They decide to hunt down Johnathan Harker O’Brian, their homecoming king, to talk to Ana since she hates all of them. They discover that he’s now a self-employed Private Investigator. Scryin’ O’Brian’s.

Meanwhile, Liam starts to freak out a bit about Amelia.

Moya: “Shh! It’s gonna be okay. Just find your happy place.”
Liam: “I don’t have a happy place! She was taken away!”

So, Foie Gras is people?

On Monday, Shane heads to the library to do some research on Thomas. He discovers that Salvatori is friends with a few other members of the club; Biba Caggiano, Charles Trotter, Jesse Gislason, John Kinsella, Paulo Monti, and Martin Yen. That’s about it.

Shane mentions it to the group and Parker says he’s seen the accounting files for Yen and Trotter at work. Yen runs five Asian restaurants and Trotter is a real estate investor.

John meets with Ana at a kitschy little diner. She, while bragging about her fabulous husband, lets it slip that he owns 37% of Briarwood Farm in Immokalee, a farm used by the Epicurean Club.

Through the phone tree, everyone discovers that Moya plans to meet with John at his office later, so they all crash it. A it turns out, John is also a hunter. They discuss wither or not to bring another of their old classmates, Shelly Martin-Singer, into the fold. She’s FBI and could be useful. Moya asks her how to kill a vampire and they discover that she’s also aware of the supernatural. They all agree that this is no longer coincidence.

Shelly tells them she’s working on the Shadow case.

They discuss their Salvitori case and decide to head to the farm that evening. It’s quite a drive and about 7 o’clock by the time they get there. All of the workers are gone for the day. Shane and Moya notice cameras all over the place. Moya picks the front lock and heads inside with John, Shelly, and Liam. They investigate around, finding not much, and Moya finds the security room and erases Oh6 off the tapes.

Shane, Parker, Eliot, and Owen go around back to the holding cells for the “geese”. Shane picks the lock to get them inside and they discover the cages are far too large for any animal besides a person. The smell inside is awful and the small cubicles are full of human waste. They take a few pictures and just as they’re about to leave, a delivery truck arrives, giving them not much time to hide.

Don't worry. I'm a veterinarian!

Moya and her group see the truck on monitors and rush around back to help while Shane and his group hide in a janitor’s closet.

From the truck, out come two drivers and two workers. They open up the back and start leading a group of Haitian children into the cages using cattle prods.

Moya throws a rock and distracts one of the workers who goes off to investigate the sound. John uses that time to sneak up on another and drag him away from the group to tie him up. Liam sticks with that one to keep an eye on him. Shane ends up killing one by slashing his throat with a paint scrapper, then tearing open the wound with his hands after he is nearly fatally shot in the chest. Another dies after Parker “shows him his sins” and he tries to run, but slips and cracks his head on the side of the cage.

Shelly calls for back-up and sends Oh6 away so they won’t get tied to the carnage. She tells the other law enforcement that one of the men turned on the others. Later investigation shows that the Shadow left his mark in the blood on the floor. Was he there before or during the fight?

Liam, who’d gone to school to become a veterinarian, tries to patch up Shane’s wound. He calls Ira, his Network Zero contact in the Miami-Dade Police Evidence Lock-up to get some Oxy-Contin for the pain.

Parker and Shane play Halo while Moya tries to break into a satellite phone that one of the guys had and Shane used to bash in one of their heads. She manages to retrieve the contact list and discovers that Salvatori’s number was the last one dialed. That’s all the evidence Shelly needs and Salvatori is arrested.

I don't think God really cares if I'm shot or not.

Moya, after speaking to her mysterious contacts again, asks Liam if Amelia received any gifts. He admitted that they’d been fighting about money a lot until she got some sort of scholarship, but he didn’t know any of the details on it. The two of them headed out to get smelly supplies to deal with the Mankaki.

Owen performed a miracle. He said a prayer and laid his hands on Shane, healing him of near deadly wound almost instantly.

Oh6 all meet up at Scryin’ O’Brian’s. Everyone is amazed by Shane’s recovery. Owen says it wasn’t him but God that did it.

They discuss the Epicurean Club and decide to table that problem until the legal fallout is over with and everyone’s that’s going to jail is there.

Moya finally tells the others what she’s learned about the Mankaki: The coin they found is 1/3 of a summoning pact. It’s usually given along with a gift. And, the kicker, two other 7-month pregnant women disappeared under similar circumstances around the same time. They realize they need to get all three of the coins.

Moya goes back to her mysterious contacts to retrieve the one she gave to them.

Owen, John, and Shelly go to the house of one of the women to see if they get one. They find a little girl, Lucy, in horrible circumstances. Since her mother’s disappearance, her father has sunk into addiction and all but ignores her. Luckily, he aunt comes by to check on her daily. Lucy wears the coin around her neck. Owen trades her his cross for the coin and tells her the cross will protect her.

Liam, Parker, Eliot, and Shane head to see Ira. He lets them into the evidence locker to get the third. The woman was single and had no family, so everything ended up in here. Her house isn’t even there anymore. It was leveled to build the parking lot for a church.

Back at Liam’s, Shelly performs some sort of post-cognition on the coins. She hears the coins talking and repeats it for Moya to record. As she’s repeating it, the coins fly to the closet door. She stops as the group doesn’t feel ready to face the Mankaki just yet.

Moya sends it to one of her mysterious contacts. He tells her and she informs the group that it’s some sort of Native American language. It seems to connect the Mankaki to Samhain. Parker makes a demon circle just in case. They decide to get a dreamcatcher in addition to everything else.

John interviews and gets an assistant to help since he’s now doing more hunter stuff. A certain overachiever known as Nancy Curry.

OOC: The group decided to use some of their practical XP to get the Net tactic.

Congratulations. It's a boy.

Shelly enlists the help of John and Moya to do more research on the Shadow. Moya sets up an IP logger on ShadowWatch.com to help them locate the slasher. Shelly looks within the group since they were the last ones in the farm where the Shadow’s mark was found. Owen looks particularly good with his religious background.

When Shelly returns home, she finds flowers with a card signed “S”. At first she wonders why Shane would send her flowers, then she realizes that S must stand for “Shadow”. She finds out what shop the flowers came from. None of the fingerprints match anyone on the team. John got Oh6’s prints after everyone visited his office. Shelly discovers the stems were cut with something rusty and starts to think it’s not the Shadow because everything they know about the Shadow says he takes better care of his weapons. They head to the flower shop and the clerk says they were purchased with cash, but it was an ugly, retarded looking guy. Across the street, they discover CCT cameras. They show their badges and get access. The footage distorts when the suspect is in the frame, which shouldn’t happen because it’s digital.

Shelly remembers the reason she started investigating the slasher phenomenon. When she was in college, her boyfriend was torn apart while the roommate was almost untouched. The CCT in the dorms showed the same sort of distortion. She realizes it must be the same person, not the Shadow at all. This new slasher has a crush on her. John stays to comfort and they rediscover the passion they had for each other in high school and have sex.

They find out that Ana is filing for divorce and suing Salvatori for emotional damages

The next day, Parker teaches the group how to Net their enemies. Then they have a combination celebration/birthday party for Liam.

That Friday, they meet at Liam’s to deal with Mankaki once and for all. Shelly and Moya play rock paper scissors to see who has to sleep with the coin under their pillow to start the process. Shelly loses and sleeps with the others watch. She dreams of a young boy who tells her that it’s vulnerable to iron. Specifically, cold iron. They decide to put off dealing with it for one more day so they can get cold iron weapons.

Owen believes the weapons will be more effective if they forge them themselves, so Shane manages to get use of the First Auto shop to work. Shane ends up helping everyone after he finishes making a bat for Eliot.

Back at Liam’s with their new weapons, a dreamcatcher acquired through Moya’s mysterious contacts, and the skunk fogger Moya made, Shelly starts the chant. The coins fly to the door again and then they fall. Shane opens the door and sees a path lined with thorns. A kid, the one from Shelly’s dream, comes running down the path toward them screaming that it’s coming.

Shane grabs the kid and puts him to the side out of harm’s way.

The Mankaki doesn’t come through the door. It just… was suddenly there. Posing as members of the group. Shane accidentally stabbed Moya. Then Owen started up the fogger and forced it to show itself. They put the dreamcatcher on the closet door and closed it to keep the Mankaki from running. It seemed to work as a ward. After being fogged, the Mankaki was much weaker. As John and Shane thoroughly killed it, it said, “my time is at an end.”

After some questioning, it became clear that Amelia was long dead and this kid, who called himself Two, was Liam’s son.

I miss the days when we didn't know so many people who ate other people.

Liam, unimpressed and vaguely upset by Two’s appearance reluctantly agrees to name him. He calls him Will and refuses to sleep in the same room with him. Liam takes the couch at Shane and Eliot’s while Will takes the bare mattress in the now unhaunted third room. Since the house is safe and Liam’s apartment has been torn to shit, he decides to move into the house.

In the morning, Shane takes Owen back to the church for services. He tries to get Liam to get Will ready for the day so they can hit the hardware store to get supplies to turn the basement into Will’s room. Liam refuses and makes excuses about Will needing his sleep. When Shane gets back, they can’t find Will. Eliot finds him in the backyard with blood on his mouth and hands. He’s playing with a dead bird. He says he was hungry. They tell him about how eating living things is not good and he should just ask for food. Shane tries to get Liam to get Will cleaned up, but Liam says he should go get some breakfast, leaving Shane and Eliot to take care of the kid.

They do and then the go get the supplies they need. Everyone except John and Shelly show up to help with the renovations. Owen starts building a fence around the front yard for added protection. Eliot helps him while the others work in the basement. Shane gets Will to help by having him hold stuff and fetch tools, teaching about what they’re doing.

Eliot and Owen notice a girl across the street. In her arms, she’s holding a dead cat. Eliot goes inside to get help. Shane comes out and approaches the girl. He finds out that she calls herself Three. She says her brother is inside and she wants to see him. Shane gets her to put down the cat and explains that eating cats is bad. He tells the others that he thinks she must be the daughter of the single mother. She had no family to return to. He takes her inside and gets her cleaned up, nervously. He talks her through how to take a bath and gives her some of the clothes they got for Will. He names her Kate.

Moya checks on Lucy for Shelly. She discovers Lucy hiding under the porch. Inside, she finds Lucy’s father dead and partially eaten. Lucy says her little brother did it. It becomes apparent that Oh6 was not prepared to deal with the fallout from the Mankaki and that these kids may not be okay.

Kate and Will don’t get along. They act like territorial animals until Shane gets them to promise to be nice to each other. Moya helps him with Kate. After Shane shows them how to eat with a fork, Kate eats part of the fork. Will eats a nail. They realize that things, not just food, seems to be digesting in their mouths.

Moya and Shane discuss whether or not the kids are human at all. Ultimately, they decide that they should give the children a chance to act like people before just killing them. Shane makes them promise to follow the rules. If they do, the group will protect them. Kate reluctantly agrees.

Moya has to put Kate in time-out after Kate tries to eat a squirrel in the backyard. It’s quite tense, but ultimately turns out okay. Afterwards, Shane takes both Kate and Will downstairs to work on the room. He makes them work together, hoping to foster a feeling of teamwork between them and combat the animosity.

What? I made sure it wasn't alive before I ate it. That's all I agreed to.

Owen and Liam head out to get supplies to make breakfast since Shane and Eliot aren’t real big on keeping their kitchen stocked. Kate eats the only thing she can find in the fridge. Rotten eggs. Less surprising than the group would like to admit, she is unharmed by this.

Meanwhile, both Parker and Shane start feeling sick at work.

Owen starts blessing the house. It’s a prayer that should protect the house from anything supernatural. Just as he finishes, the kids scream and run outside. Will, in his blind panic, hurls Shane, who’s come home early sick, into the fence. Kate and Will run up a tree across the street. Shane and Liam have to get them down.

Shane tries to take them back into the house, but he can’t bring himself to go in, so he takes the kids for ice cream instead. While they’re gone, John, Shelly, Owen, and Liam wonder if the kids can be saved at all. Eliot stands up for them.

Owen and Shell go to the church to discuss Shadow. When they get back to the house, they talk to Eliot, presenting him with evidence and suggesting that Shane is Shadow. Eliot denies it. They call Shane to come back home and step into the house. Shane picks up that there’s something wrong from talking to Shelly.

When he gets back home, he refuses to walk into the house and he and Liam take the kids out to see a movie. When they get back, the ward has been dispelled.

A storm gathers outside as Shane admits to being Shadow to save Owen from having to lie for him. He tells the group that he started doing it because of the Ghost. It was venturing further and further away from the room to get it’s prey and bring back bigger things. He was afraid it would eventually eat Eliot, so he started bringing back people for it to eat. People that the world was better off without.

Shelly agreed to cover for him and not bring in the FBI if Shane promises not to kill again. He acquiesces.

"I love you." "I know."

John’s office is broken into by someone using very rusty yet sharp blades. He writes in blood “She’s not yours.” They check the footage, but, despite it being digital, there are distortions consistent with VHS on the video over the perpetrator’s face. Shelly admits that this person seems to have been stalking her for some time.

After some investigating, it seems to be one of their old classmates by the name of Simon. Only Owen and Shane remember him at first. Owen recalls that he was a burn victim. Shane remembers that everyone pretty much ignored or made fun of Simon. That Simon had a crush on Shelly, but she wouldn’t even look at him.

They discover that, in addition to killing Shelly’s college boyfriend, he’s also been kidnapping girls that look like Shelly. John realizes he’s just sent Nancy to watch Simon’s house and she fits the type perfectly. Shane and Liam pick her up and bring her back to the safehouse. Despite Shane’s warnings, John sends Nancy to go stay with family. She is taken off the train.

Moya’s mysterious sources give them a possible location for his hideout. It used to be part of an airport, but it’s abandoned now. They cut the lock and head in, intent on saving Nancy. As they’re nearing the sound of Nancy screaming for help, Shane realizes that Simon is right behind him.

Shane turns and hits Simon hard in the face with a chain hanging from the ceiling and the battle begins. Simon nearly guts John, removing him from the fight along with Owen as Owen tries to save him. Shane, Liam, Moya, and Parker try to catch Simon rather than kill him. They get him immobilized.

Simon admitted to Shelly that he loved her. She said she knew and shot him in the head. Shane felt that was a bit hypocritical seeing as how she was so against him killing anyone. Especially since most of the group still didn’t know a thing about Simon. So, he left a message in Simon’s blood near the body. It was clearly Shadow style and it said, “This is a symptom. You are the sickness.”

When Shelly found the message left by Shane, she told the FBI to go pick him. She didn’t believe that Shane could control himself. Liam managed to warn Shane, so Shane left with Kate. Strangely though, the FBI never showed. Shelly went to see her contact, Gavin, to find out why. They found him in his hotel room, hooked to the ceiling with horseshoes. He’d been gutted and his entrails spelled out, “Hi!”

He’d wanted Shadow to be his catch, so he’d never forwarded any of the information.

On Bloody Sunday, Carmen Montelisa is found dead and Shelly is proven right. Shane killed her and left her body on the altar of her church. There were postmortem injuries and her mouth was stuffed full of cigarettes. “Sadist” is written in her blood across the altar.

He calls Eliot and tells him about how he feels during Revenge Week. How he feels everything the victims feel until he settles on who he’ll kill and goes through with it. He insists that she deserved it and Eliot believes him.

Eliot and Moya start working on an experiment to see if they can find a way to control Shadow Shane.

Shelly calls in the others too look at Gavin to see what they can figure out. Parker and Owen recognize it as the same M.O. of the demon that possessed their sister, Autumn. He and his mentor, Harley, killed her. Harley insisted it was the only to cleanse the body of the demon. Owen disagreed with it then. With the new evidence he’s sure it was wrong.

They have a birthday party for Eliot. Shane sneaks into Eliot’s room to give him a present and let him know everything is okay.